WISE, Va. – The Lincoln Memorial men's basketball team will try to build off its most impressive performance of the season and string together back-to-back wins on Saturday with a trip to face the Virginia-Wise Cavaliers. 
 
Tip-off between the Railsplitters (2-2) and Cavaliers (3-2) is set for 4 p.m. inside the Prior Convocation Center. Live stats, video and audio links are available at www.lmurailsplitters.com, while fans can also follow along with live updates on the official LMU athletics Twitter page, @LMURailsplitter. 
 
Notes on Virginia-Wise 
 
- The Cavaliers are coming off a 97-86 loss against Notre Dame College on Monday night. Notre Dame had their way offensively against UVA-Wise, shooting 50 percent from the field while knocking down 11 three-pointers and getting to the free-throw line 33 times.
- Prior to that loss, the Cavs had won back-to-back games against Alice Lloyd and Urbana.  
- Cameron Whiteside led a group of three Cavaliers in double figures with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting in the loss to Notre Dame College, while Briggs Parris and Michal Seals contributed 16 and 15 points, respectively. Seals also led the team with eight assists and two steals. Kaeleb Carter finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and six assists. 
- Virginia-Wise has been solid offensively all season, averaging 84.4 points per game on 44 percent shooting and a 36 percent clip from three-point range. However, the Cavs have allowed opposing offenses to score over 80 points per game on 45 percent shooting. 
- Seals – a 5-10 junior guard – has averaged a near triple-double for the Cavaliers with 20.6 points, 7.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 50 percent from the field. He has scored 20-plus points in three of his five appearances. 
- A 6-4 freshman forward, Briggs has contributed 16.2 points per game while knocking down 24 of the team's 52 three-pointers. He poured in 31 points in his collegiate debut in the season opener against Livingston. 
- Whiteside and Eric Okenchi are chipping in 10.6 and 10.4 points per game, respectively. Okenchi, who is tied as the tallest player on the team at 6-7, is leading the team with 8.2 rebounds per game as well. 
- Virginia-Wise has outrebounded its opponents by an average of 3.2 boards per game. 
- Blake Mellinger is in his sixth season leading the Virginia-Wise men's basketball program. Over that span, the Cavs are a combined 43-105. However, the program has steadily improved since going 2-26 as a provisional NCAA Division II member in 2014-15.  
- Seven of Virginia-Wise's 13-man roster are underclassman, while six are true freshmen. 
 
Last Time Out 
 
After enduring some early-season offensive struggles, the Railsplitters snapped a two-game losing streak with an emphatic 108-58 win over Paine in the Tex Turner Arena opener on Tuesday night. Lincoln Memorial shot a season-high 52 percent and hit a season-high 18 three-pointers, including 11 in the first half alone. 
 
In his first career appearance and start, redshirt-sophomore guard Bryan Hart led LMU with a career-high 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a 4-for-5 mark from three. Cornelius Taylor added 15 points, while Anthony Brown chipped in 14 on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting. All told, 12 Railsplitters scored at least five points in the wire-to-wire win. 
 
Out of the National Rankings 
 
The Railsplitters opened the season ranked No. 3 in the NABC/Division II Coaches Poll and No. 2 in the D2SIDA top-25 media poll, but have fallen completely out of the top 25 in both polls following their 1-2 start. 
 
Lincoln Memorial finds itself out of the NABC ranking for the first time since January 3, 2017. Prior to falling out of the poll the week before that on December 27, the Railsplitters were represented in the NABC poll for 95 consecutive weeks – the second-longest streak in Division II men's basketball. 
 
Consistent Calhoun 
 
Redshirt-junior Kamaran Calhoun has been a steady force for the Railsplitters, averaging 8.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 66.7 percent from the field. Calhoun is second on the team in total minutes played with 104 and leads the team in both free throws made (13) and attempted (17). 
 
Newcomers Playing Big Role 
 
Four of the Railsplitters' top six players in terms of total points scored are in their first year of competition with Lincoln Memorial. That group includes redshirt-sophomore Cameron Henry, junior transfer Anthony Brown and true freshmen Xavier Bledson and Julius Brown. 
 
Among players with four appearances this season, Henry is second on the team with 9.5 points per game to go along with a team-high 6.3 rebounds per. Julius Brown and Anthony Brown are averaging 8.0 and 7.3 points per game, respectively. 
 
Facing Virginia-Wise 
 
The Railsplitters are 22-9 all-time against the Cavaliers. Lincoln Memorial has won five consecutive games in the series in utterly dominant fashion, including a 106-75 win in 2017, a 105-62 triumph in 2016, a 114-69 shellacking in 2015 and a 107-55 beatdown in 2014. 
 
Virginia-Wise has not beaten the Railsplitters since pulling out an 81-80 overtime win in Wise, Va., on December 8, 2012.